Thank you, Dr. Lee, for the contribution of you and your colleagues to a climate of rationality and tolerance in politics, in the current US presidential election of 5 November 2024, and in society as a whole. Some who are indifferent or opposing today may be thankful tomorrow. G-d bless!
I trust that things are going well with you. I am the Black mental health therapist who was on your conference call last week.
I took it upon myself to share your information with the Atlanta Journal & Constitution; CNN; Senator, Rev Warnock; Senator Oshoff, & the Kamala Harris Campaign itself. We'll see what happens.
I'm not sure whether you are having another call tomorrow, but I know I have a schedule conflict. I, nevertheless, would like to participate in additional calls. Thank you so much for the outstanding work that you are doing.
Trump’s prolonged dancing during the medical emergencies at the October 14 event epitomized a core dynamic of the relationship between the strongman and his followers.
A strongman is an aggressive and severely pathological narcissist who has been rewarded with enormous narcissistic rewards by his social environment. Consequently his “grandiose self”—the core element of pathological narcissism, and the narcissist’s substitute for an integrated self—has been enormously activated. The model of the grandiose self is God, which is to say that the pathological narcissist’s ideal self-conception is that he is omnipotent and omniscient. (Trump’s omnipotence: “Being president means you can do anything you want.” Trump’s omniscience: “I know more about war than the generals do”—Trump has made the corresponding claim about more than twenty other fields.)
The strongman’s followers have a complementary pathological, infantile need for a father-figure who is omnipotent and omniscient (as an adult appears to the helpless infant)—a figure who will magically protect them from all harm and supply all their needs. (That is how Hitler’s followers perceived him, and only the catastrophic end of the war finally disabused them of their delusion; even then, many blamed others rather than Hitler for the catastrophe.) Thus the fundamental drive of the strongman’s followers is to return to the effortless, thoughtless, undifferentiated bliss of the womb. Their state of mind is another version of the heroin addict’s high (one addict said that heroin makes you feel like you’re “surrounded by cotton candy”).
It is true that strongmen generally have Machiavellian cunning, and Trump could not have succeeded without some of that. But Trump’s central technique is to infect his followers with his own sickness simply by exhibiting his own sick self to them. The effect of his performance is, so to speak, an orgasmic symbiotic union between himself and his followers. Thus on October 14, Trump repeatedly expressed his delight in dancing to his favorite music instead of discussing politics; and a woman who attended the event told a reporter that during the half hour or during which Trump danced she experienced bliss.
Thank you, Dr. Lee, for all you’ve sacrificed to share your insights into our society’s contamination by a deranged despot. Although the implications are terrifying, the knowledge I’ve gained from your books is empowering bc it brings understanding. Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Lee, for the contribution of you and your colleagues to a climate of rationality and tolerance in politics, in the current US presidential election of 5 November 2024, and in society as a whole. Some who are indifferent or opposing today may be thankful tomorrow. G-d bless!
Hello, Dr. Lee,
I trust that things are going well with you. I am the Black mental health therapist who was on your conference call last week.
I took it upon myself to share your information with the Atlanta Journal & Constitution; CNN; Senator, Rev Warnock; Senator Oshoff, & the Kamala Harris Campaign itself. We'll see what happens.
I'm not sure whether you are having another call tomorrow, but I know I have a schedule conflict. I, nevertheless, would like to participate in additional calls. Thank you so much for the outstanding work that you are doing.
Dr. James Parker "JParker" Griffin, Jr.
✨✨✨✨✨
Trump’s prolonged dancing during the medical emergencies at the October 14 event epitomized a core dynamic of the relationship between the strongman and his followers.
A strongman is an aggressive and severely pathological narcissist who has been rewarded with enormous narcissistic rewards by his social environment. Consequently his “grandiose self”—the core element of pathological narcissism, and the narcissist’s substitute for an integrated self—has been enormously activated. The model of the grandiose self is God, which is to say that the pathological narcissist’s ideal self-conception is that he is omnipotent and omniscient. (Trump’s omnipotence: “Being president means you can do anything you want.” Trump’s omniscience: “I know more about war than the generals do”—Trump has made the corresponding claim about more than twenty other fields.)
The strongman’s followers have a complementary pathological, infantile need for a father-figure who is omnipotent and omniscient (as an adult appears to the helpless infant)—a figure who will magically protect them from all harm and supply all their needs. (That is how Hitler’s followers perceived him, and only the catastrophic end of the war finally disabused them of their delusion; even then, many blamed others rather than Hitler for the catastrophe.) Thus the fundamental drive of the strongman’s followers is to return to the effortless, thoughtless, undifferentiated bliss of the womb. Their state of mind is another version of the heroin addict’s high (one addict said that heroin makes you feel like you’re “surrounded by cotton candy”).
It is true that strongmen generally have Machiavellian cunning, and Trump could not have succeeded without some of that. But Trump’s central technique is to infect his followers with his own sickness simply by exhibiting his own sick self to them. The effect of his performance is, so to speak, an orgasmic symbiotic union between himself and his followers. Thus on October 14, Trump repeatedly expressed his delight in dancing to his favorite music instead of discussing politics; and a woman who attended the event told a reporter that during the half hour or during which Trump danced she experienced bliss.
Thank you, Dr. Lee, for all you’ve sacrificed to share your insights into our society’s contamination by a deranged despot. Although the implications are terrifying, the knowledge I’ve gained from your books is empowering bc it brings understanding. Thank you.